Portsmouth Roman Catholic

I was surprised recently when the now Cardinal Nichols explained that the matter of reception of Holy Communion by the Divorced and Remarried was not a black and white issue since we had to keep in mind that the Commandments of Jesus Christ had to be weighed against His Compassion.   He was of course speaking for this Compassionate Church he and his fellow bishopwhat s built up in England over the past fifty year where people were freed like the Protestants before the from rules and regulations so that people could do wrong in faith and morals with no guilt or sense of sin like those hell ridden Catholic of the Pre-VNIcatican era.   Many of course welcomed such a compassionate set up but what happened was that the young looked at the Church and were appalled at what they saw was hypocricy.  I will give Cardinal Nichols the benefit of the doubt and say he was sincere but surely he cannot believe that wholesale abandoning of Christ`s teachings on Divorce and sexual mor...

I havejust read an interesting account of the response of Archbishop Nichos to a John Cornwell on the subject of Confession. Cornwell a well known novelist claims that he was the victim of child abuse in the Confessional and is calling for an end to childhood confessions. Archbishop Nichols ignores this and instead cals for an examination of the decline of Confession. I know that at Westminster Cathedral there is always confession for those who wish and have indeed gone to Confession there. But again what happened to Confession in the Portsmouth. Now here there is a Uriah Heap approach to the subject. In order to consolidate the Revolution in the seventies stories were circulated about how Catholics children were filled with the fear of Hell, grew up guilt ridden, and God was seen as a fearsome avenger. Confession was indeed for those who let sin upset them. Traditionally for decades there was the Saturday morning Mass followed by Conession and this was well attended but he ref...

I have met so many people in the Portsmouth Diocese who `follow their conscience` that there does hot seem to have been any need for Jesus Christ and his teachings, and I am still puzzled as to where Jesus actually fits in. I have been at meetings where Cardinal Newman was quoted as a defence for those who were undermining the Catholic Faith. I remember someone quoting Jesus Christ on Divorce and Remarriage and being told not to be judgemental. The point is of course that if you are following your conscience you really need to try to block out the evidence thay you are really not following your conscience but rather justifying your lack of belief. What I found objectionable was the way that they dragged Cardinal Newman into their deceit. I have not found the article but I did have to heart boasts about he championed the right to conscience. The story goes that at a dinner with Anglicans he did not drink to the Pope but to conscience. This meant that as a Catholic he always put his...

The latest edition of the Portsmouth People has a very curious letter from someone who had attended a meeting somewhere and at the meeting someone had had a row with the speaker. Apparently he contradicted the speaker on matters of the Catholic Faith. The person was so annoyed for she was one who had had difficulties with some of the Churchs teaching and was happy that Vatican II had given her this new Church where she could exercise `her consicience`. So she has the Church she wants but what she failed to grasp is that her Church was not the Church the dissenter wanted. It would be wonderful to go along with the idea that everyone loves` one another so there is not need to quarrel. The trouble is that we can only have one kind of Church, built on one Faith, which surpresses the Faith of other people. Call me a traditional then and let me practice my Faith in the Portsmouth Diocese. "But we give you your freedom" will come the cry, We are tolerant of all Faiths, we are e...

I came to the Portsmouth Diocese in 1979 when I was newly married and I raised a family here. Great things were happening in the Church at the time. The Charismatic Movement was very strong in my parish and I willingly participated and I was carried along with what was called `The Spirit of Vatican II`. I was probably too immature at the time to distinguish between Vatican II and what was called the `Spirit of Vatican II` but a number of things began to happen that shocked, and like all those who discover the difference I became angry. The first thing was when I went to a rehearsal of the Charisatic Choir. I thought it was meeting in the Church but when I arrived I found the parish priest sitting on the altar on his own waiting for someohne to arrive so that he could say Mass. I remained so that Mass could be said but I asked myself why this particular form of the Charismatic Movement thought their choir was more important than the Mass? I then began to take a serious look at w...